University Hospital in Newark, where a nurse was stabbed in a parking lot on Nov. 26.Star-Ledger file photo

A Rahway man admitted he stabbed a nurse after trying to rob her in a parking lot outside a Newark hospital last month, a prosecutor said in court Wednesday.

The revelation came during a detention hearing when Brian K. Anglin, 56, was ordered held on aggravated assault, robbery and weapons charges stemming from the Nov. 26 attack at University Hospital on South Orange Avenue.

Superior Court Judge Siobhan Teare granted a motion by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office that Anglin remain at the Essex County Correctional Facility pending presentation of the case to a grand jury.

Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Jamel Semper told the judge that Anglin was captured on surveillance video near the scene a short time after the Sunday night attack, and that Anglin later acknowledged it was he on the tape and that he had stabbed the nurse.

Anglin entered a not guilty plea during his initial appearance following his arrest last week, according to the prosecutor's office.

Semper said Anglin approached the nurse and demanded money, then stabbed her in the upper abdomen before she had a chance to comply with his demand.

The nurse, a 25-year veteran of University Hospital who is in her 60's, was headed to her car after working a shift in the hospital's labor and delivery unit. She survived the attack and staggered to the hospital's emergency room for treatment.

Semper said Newark police arrested Anglin near the scene the following day, when he was found with a box cutter. He said Anglin had an extensive criminal record that included burglary and drug possession convictions in New Jersey, as well as prior offenses in the State of Georgia.

The attack prompted a call for increased security by the Health Professionals and Allied Employees, the nurse's union. Rutgers officials said they would boost patrols.

The Rutgers University Police Department, which patrols University Hospital, was working with hospital officials to enhance security for staff and visitors, a university spokesman said after the incident.

Anglin's public defender for the hearing in Newark, Donna Scocozza, had told the judge that her client was living in Rahway with his sister. Scocozza said Anglin was employed with a local company, helping to support the household, and that keeping him behind bars would be a hardship on the family.